Some questions have come up regarding the DAL contract and maybe some of you guys can fill us in.

• Is the minimum day 5:00 or 5:15?
• Is it an average day per trip or an actual minimum day?
• Would you say there is adequate open time available for a pilot to add 10+ hours to his/her schedule monthly?
• How often does DAL normally have an AE?

I end up at Ice Station MSP training camp for half of Oct and all Nov so I should have some good quality rumors to pass along.......

Thanks

 

We have what is called a "Duty Period Average" or DPA and it is 5:15 per duty period when you are an "in the seat" crew member. It is per trip. If you have a four day trip with only 3 duty periods of active crewmember flying (Deadhead doesn't count), your DPA is 15:45.

As for adequate open time, I'd say for the most part yes, but, depending on your category, there will be periodic times when you might not be able to do it.

We used to have AE's about every 3 months but with things the way they are, who knows how often they will be? Latest word from our VP of Flight Ops is there will be a fairly large bid out sometime in the first couple of weeks in October. (Per his code a phone)

Always nice to hear good rumors!!!! Some thing else that'll spin me up!!

 

You can always find open time to pickup. The question is can you pick it up in advance or are you willing to pick it up the day prior or day off. When a category runs short of open time then you will have to put a blank pickup request in. There are parameters you can program into the request to insure you get the type trip you want. There are always people calling in sick so you you can normally get a trip that way if there is no open time. Another thing to keep in mind is that there are no time limits on swaps. You can be at 84 hours and swap a 1 day trip for a 4 day trip. and have 100 hours. I know many NWA pilots are concerned about not being able to fly as much at Delta however on average a Delta pilot gets more credit hours per month then a NWA pilot so you should see a additional increase in pay. In many categories especially in the summer you can pick up greenslip flying at will which will pay double pay after 1 Jan. I don't work a lot of over time and I normally see 180-190k yearly in a category where the hourly rate was 160k. I know copilots who make the same getting 115 an hour however they are very senior and use rolling thunder and other options to boost their pay.

 

Just to add on, a four day trip with only three duty periods would pay more than 15:45. The trip rig would kick in and protect you. I just flew a four day with only three duty periods and it paid over 21 hours.

 

What is the trip rig at DAL? (The number/ratio, not the definition of a trip rig)

 

It's 1:3.5. One hour for every three and a half.

 

What are the current NW trip and duty rigs?

 

Questions about NWA hotels. A NWA friend told me that they are often placed in airport hotels on international layovers. I find it a bit hard to believe they would stick them at the airport on 24 hour plus layovers. Anyone have the correct info? I hope this does not give Delta ideas!!!!

 

Unless your friend is referring to Toronto or Montreal, I think your friend is wrong.

In fact, the hotels on international layovers are probably a bit too far from the airport. Some are over an hour away.

 

These would be hotels in Europe.